{"id":755020,"date":"2026-07-10T17:07:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T17:07:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/755020\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T17:07:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T17:07:23","slug":"braden-smith-on-joining-pacers-playing-with-tyrese-haliburton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/755020\/","title":{"rendered":"Braden Smith on joining Pacers, playing with Tyrese Haliburton"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Indiana\u2019s own Braden Smith, in a Haliburton camp t-shirt and the Hali 1 shoes.<\/p>\n

CARMEL \u2014 Braden Smith is truly living out a dream.<\/p>\n

He is part of the small percentage of basketball players selected in the NBA Draft \u2014 and he also gets to stay home.<\/p>\n

The Westfield High School graduate and 2022 Indiana Mr. Basketball hasn\u2019t had to travel far to continue his basketball career. First, he went up to West Lafayette for four years with coach Matt Painter at Purdue University (2022-26).<\/p>\n

Then, just two weeks ago, he was selected 38th overall in the 2026 NBA Draft by the Indiana Pacers. Better yet, the Pacers completed a trade with the Bulls<\/a> to acquire the selection and keep Smith in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how much they believed in him and wanted him. And because of the front office\u2019s familiarity with Smith and his game \u2014 no team knew him better \u2014 the Pacers could feel very comfortable selecting him in the second round.<\/p>\n

The trade also allowed the Pacers to move off Kam Jones\u2019 salary and free up a roster spot. Both are critical with the margins so slim right now.<\/p>\n

But make no mistake: They wanted Smith. And so did other teams, especially the Lakers and Bucks.<\/p>\n

In the days immediately following the draft, Smith got right to work. He was at the Pacers\u2019 practice facility daily for workouts.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust getting individual workouts, getting your feet wet, and trying to just get in there with the guys and work out with everybody,\u201d Smith said. \u201cAnd I think for me, it\u2019s just, it\u2019s a dream to be there. So just trying to soak it up and enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith was eager to get started, and there was no reason to waste time learning his new environment. Tyrese Haliburton was in the gym, too. Who better to learn from during this transition?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exciting, right?\u201d Haliburton said of Smith\u2019s story. \u201cI keep telling him like, well, this has gotta be a dream come true to be in-state kid, go to state school, to end up on the NBA team. That\u2019s so fire to me. That\u2019s like what dreams are made of. So it\u2019s really cool.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we play the same position, so we spend a lot of time together with position groups and stuff like that. So I look forward to just helping him out as much as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three days after becoming a professional, Smith made the short drive to the Aletto Family Sports Center in Carmel. Many Pacers staff members were there to help Haliburton at his fifth annual youth camp \u2014 and so was Smith.<\/p>\n

It was his first official public appearance as a Pacer and his first opportunity to support a fellow point guard.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Smith wore a gold chain with his number \u2014\u00a03 \u2014\u00a0on display. He was in a navy camp t-shirt with a caricature of Haliburton on the front. He was also noticeably outfitted in a pair of his teammates\u2019 Puma shoes, the Hali 1s. And he\u2019s continued to wear them during rookie\/free-agent camp, which leads into summer league.<\/p>\n

Haliburton is a hoop head so he\u2019s constantly watching all levels of basketball. He\u2019s at an AAU tournament right now supporting Team Hali. So even though it was Big Ten basketball, he saw a lot of Smith at Purdue.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time I was a sophomore, I felt like I had perfected the pick-and-roll at the collegiate level. I didn\u2019t feel like anybody,\u201d Haliburton said. \u201cDidn\u2019t matter who was guarding me \u2014\u00a0going right, going left, whatever pass I needed to make, I could make. And I felt the same way when I watched him play. He can really make any read offensively. He\u2019s very talented in that regard, just being a point guard, knowing how to play the right way. I think that will not be a problem for him in his NBA career.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Summer League in Las Vegas is set to begin at 4:30 p.m. ET on Friday, their first of at least five games, the most interesting storyline to play out is for the final spots on the roster. (Click here for their schedule and roster<\/a>)<\/p>\n

More specially, the three two-way slots.<\/p>\n

Taelon Peter and Ethan Thompson are still under contract for another season. The Pacers issued a qualifying offer to Jalen Slawson for one. Kobe Brown, who was included in the trade with the LA Clippers for Ivica Zubac, signed a two-way deal on Thursday\u00a0\u2014 a nice addition.<\/p>\n

Plus, Smith was expecting to sign a two-way.<\/p>\n

So right now, there\u2019s five players for three spots.<\/p>\n

A two-way deal is a valuable tool for filling spots 16-18 on the roster. It allows a player to spend up to 50 games with the NBA club while earning half of the rookie minimum salary, nearly $700,000. Best of all for the Pacers, a two-way player\u2019s salary does not count against the salary cap.<\/p>\n

If the Pacers had kept the No. 5 overall pick, the intrigue surrounding the Summer Pacers would be much different. Summer League is about individuals receiving opportunities \u2014 from players to coaches, referees and others \u2014 and this year is no different.<\/p>\n

Smith spoke with Fieldhouse Files and the IndyStar at Haliburton\u2019s camp. Read the full Q&A below.<\/p>\n

Take us back kind of to draft night. You\u2019re there up in Carmel enjoying it with everyone. What was that experience like for you?<\/p>\n

It was awesome. Obviously, it\u2019s a lot going on. But I mean, at the end of the day, it ended up working out and being back home, so it was good.<\/p>\n

At what point did you know it was Pacers and not Bulls?<\/p>\n

I knew right as the pick was going, so I knew pretty early.<\/p>\n

Did you have a good sense going in that they were gonna try to take you?<\/p>\n

Yeah, it was between them, Lakers, and Milwaukee. They were all kind of fighting for that. So I was trying to figure out which team of a three, and I knew right as they were on the clock that Pacers was it.<\/p>\n

What does this mean to be able to be here? You\u2019re doing this camp and you\u2019re what, ten minutes from home?<\/p>\n

Literally, yeah. It\u2019s awesome just to be here and be literally close to home and be around a community I\u2019ve always been around, so it\u2019s awesome.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re gonna be coming on a two-way contract. Did you tell them in advance that was something you were willing to do? How do you view that challenge?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s always gonna be a challenge for me, especially at this level and every level I\u2019ve been a part of. So nothing\u2019s really new, to be honest. And for me, I think that\u2019s the exciting part, is that you get to go out there, start back at ground zero, and work your way up. So that\u2019s what I\u2019m looking forward to.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Braden Smith says hi to Haliburton, who was at Purdue to support his alma mater, Iowa State, back on Dec. 6. (Photo: @BoilerBall)<\/p>\n

I know you guys talked to Tyrese a little bit back last year. What are some of the things you guys talked about, what have you learned from him?<\/p>\n

It was more just checking in, saying what\u2019s up, rather than me asking questions. Now that we\u2019re together, we\u2019re on the same team, it\u2019ll probably be more question-based in a practice setting. But for me, I don\u2019t wanna be that guy when we\u2019re out in public, be like, what can you teach me? It\u2019s more just getting to know him and building a connection. So I think that\u2019s what I try to do.<\/p>\n

Note: Here was Haliburton on that interaction\u2026 \u201cGiving him some flack, because obviously I went to the game, Cyclones. Cooked them last year, and I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll do the same to Purdue this year. So I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll be having some fun conversations with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do you hope you\u2019re able to get out of Summer League, and kind of get your first taste of the NBA action?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s for me, it\u2019s just go out, play loose, and have fun. Everybody says pressure and all that\u00a0\u2014 there\u2019s no pressure for me.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s going out and doing what I\u2019ve always done. And obviously, back against the wall a little bit, and obviously a lot of doubt. I mean, it\u2019s just everything I\u2019ve always ever dealt with. So for me, it\u2019s just go out there and show I belong, and play for an organization that plays the right way. And try to help.<\/p>\n

Has there been anything that stands out about your conversations with Rick Carlisle, and leading into even draft night, maybe?<\/p>\n

Not really, no. It\u2019s more like building that connection, relationship is the biggest thing. And then we\u2019re not really in the stage of practicing and that stuff yet, so I haven\u2019t really got the chance to.<\/p>\n

\"PacersPacers notebook: Kelly Oubre Jr. addition, Summer League roster set, and Jay Huff joins Team USA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Indiana\u2019s own Braden Smith, in a Haliburton camp t-shirt and the Hali 1 shoes. CARMEL \u2014 Braden Smith…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":755021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-755020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=755020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/755020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/755021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=755020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=755020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=755020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}